RAMUSIO, Giovanni Battista.
[The extremely rare first edition of Ramusio's map of Sumatra]Sumatra.Venice, 1556, FIRST EDITION. Woodcut, printed area 280 x 375mm. Very minor repairs at centrefold, old ink corrections to page numbering.Sumatra, here still associated with 'Taprobana', published in Ramusio's 'Raccolta di Navigationi et Viaggi'. In the book was an account of the voyage of the Parmentier Brothers, Frenchmen who ran the Portuguese blockade of the East Indies and landed on the Sumatran port of Ticon. Both brothers died of fever and the trade was not too successful, dissuading the French from sending further expeditions. However their findings are included here, making this the first map of any island in South East Asia to be based on actual observation. It is strange, therefore, that there is no attempt to show any part of the Malay Peninsula or Java.
This is an example of the rare printing from the first block, which was destroyed by a fire in the printing house after only a year's use. A new block was cut for the second edition, 1565, and prints from this second block are found more frequently.SUAREZ: p.157, & fig.77 (second block illustrated).
[Ref: 9111]
£1,100.00
($1,460 • €1,269 rates)

RAMUSIO, Giovanni Battista.
[Sumatra]Sumatra.Venice, 1606. Woodcut, printed area 280 x 375mm. Repairs to stitchmarks in centrefold, as usual.Sumatra, here still associated with 'Taprobana', published in Ramusio's 'Raccolta di Navigationi et Viaggi'. In the book was an account of the voyage of the Parmentier Brothers, Frenchmen who ran the Portuguese blockade of the East Indies and landed on the Sumatran port of Ticon. Both brothers died of fever and the trade was not too successful, dissuading the French from sending further expeditions. However their observations are included here, making this the first map of any island in South East Asia to be based on actual observation. It is strange, therefore, that there is no attempt to show any part of the Malay Peninsula or Java. This example was printed from the second block, cut in 1565 after the first was destroyed by a fire in the printing house of Thomaso Guinti after only a year's use. The 1606 edition is recognisable by evidence of woodworm damage to the printing block and the pagination numbers '371.2º' and '371.3º'.SUAREZ: p.157, & fig.77 (second block illustrated).
[Ref: 9045]
£425.00
($564 • €490 rates)

VARTHEMA, Ludovico di.
[Map of Java from Varthema's Travels]Java Maior.Leipzig: Heironymus Megister, 1610. 75 x 115mm.Map of Java, engraved by Heinrich Gross jnr. for a German edition of the travels of Ludovico di Varthema (or Barthema, c. 1470-1517), the first non-Muslim European to enter Mecca as a pilgrim. Born in Bologna, he travelled to Egypt and Syria in 1503, where he learned enough to enlist as a Mamluk in Damascus. Under this cover he made the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina as one of the Mamluk escort of the Hajj caravan the same year. His account has satisfied later scholars, including Richard Burton, as authentic. From Arabia he travelled to India, Sri Lanka, Sumatra, Borneo & the Moluccas. In 1506, wishing to return home, he joined the Portuguese garrison at Kannur in India, with whom he stayed untill he could join a ship returning to Europe in late 1507. His account then describes the east coast of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, St Helena, Ascension and the Azores before landing at Lisbon. He returned to Italy, publishing this account for the first time in 1510.Not in Tibbetts.
[Ref: 13209]
£300.00
($398 • €346 rates)

VARTHEMA, Ludovico di.
[Map of Bantam on Java from Varthema's Travels]Situs civitatis Bantam et Navium Insulae Iauae delineatio.Leipzig: Heironymus Megister, 1610. 75 x 115mm.Map of Bantam on Java, engraved by Heinrich Gross jnr. for a German edition of the travels of Ludovico di Varthema (or Barthema, c. 1470-1517), the first non-Muslim European to enter Mecca as a pilgrim. Born in Bologna, he travelled to Egypt and Syria in 1503, where he learned enough to enlist as a Mamluk in Damascus. Under this cover he made the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina as one of the Mamluk escort of the Hajj caravan the same year. His account has satisfied later scholars, including Richard Burton, as authentic. From Arabia he travelled to India, Sri Lanka, Sumatra, Borneo & the Moluccas. In 1506, wishing to return home, he joined the Portuguese garrison at Kannur in India, with whom he stayed untill he could join a ship returning to Europe in late 1507. His account then describes the east coast of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, St Helena, Ascension and the Azores before landing at Lisbon. He returned to Italy, publishing this account for the first time in 1510.Not in Tibbetts.
[Ref: 13210]
£250.00
($332 • €289 rates)

HONDIUS, Jodocus II.
[The Bertius map of the northern Moluccas]Moluccæ insulæ.Amsterdam: Jodocus Hondius, 1616. Coloured. 100 x 135mm.Miniature map of the Moluccas, orientated with north to the right, with Sulawesi marked. It was engraved by Jodocus Hondius for his edition of Petrus Bertius's 'Tabularum Geographicarum Contractarum'. Unlike the earlier plate, this version has longitude and latitude lines.KOEMAN: Lan 11a, 'With the new plates, the work was certainly improved.
[Ref: 15211]
£165.00
($219 • €190 rates)

JANSSON, Jan.
[17th century map of Sumatra with Singapore]Sumatræ et Insularum Locorumque nonnullorum Circumiacentium Tabula Nova.Amsterdam, c.1657. Original colour. 425 x 520mm.A chart of Sumatra and the tip of the Malay Peninsula, orientated with north to the left. Published in Jansson's sea-atlas it was first issued 1657, a decade after the Dutch siezed Malacca from the Portuguese. The map also marks the Aceh sultanate on the northern tip of Sumatra: during the 1650s the Dutch encouraged revolts against Aceh rule in order to gain control of tin deposits in the area.SUAREZ: p.207.
[Ref: 8214]
£850.00
($1,128 • €981 rates)